Sea Castle

A potion swept the ocean.
Elements surround,
underwater is where it's found.
Discovering what's around.
Hearing no warning sounds.
Careful not to drown.
Stir the magic mixture.
See what's amazing in the tunneling caves.
Swimming through this Bermuda maze.
Underneath the crashing waves.
Keeping all the treasures you save.
I looked at the clock.
Time was secure & locked.
It takes forever.
Remain as it did before.
Sea castles on the sea floor.
THE WORLD ENDING probably NEVER.

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Editor’s Note

The number one question our editors receive is—what do the editors and judges look for when judging the contest? The number one answer we give is creativity. Unlike prose, writing composed in everyday language, poetry is considered a creative art and requires a different type of effort and a certain level of depth. Of the thousands of poems entered in each contest, the ones that catch our judges’ eyes are the ones that remove us, even just slightly, from the scope of everyday life by using language that is interesting, specific, vivid, obscure, compelling, figurative, and so on. Oftentimes, poems are pulled aside for a second look based simply on certain words that intrigued the reader. So first and foremost, be sure your poetry is written using creative language. Take general ideas and make them personal. In his infamous book De/Compositions: 101 Good Poems Gone Wrong, W. D. Snodgrass imparts, “We cannot honestly discuss or represent our lives, any more than our poems, without using ideational language.”